Ethan turned around, letting Maelle blast his chest with cold water to wash away the toxic sludge of the sump, the redhead taking far too much joy in doing it.
Taylor was using the shower inside, but he didn't feel like waiting for her, not when the scent of the sump clung to his skin so much that he wanted to breathe through his nose.
Unfortunately, scent was particles, and with his improved body, he could actually taste it if he tried.
"Watch it!" he growled, flinching when the water jet came a little too close to certain parts of his anatomy.
"Heh," Maelle snickered as she adjusted her aim.
Ethan narrowed his eyes. "You know it's cold!"
"Uhum, sure," Maelle said, then she flicked the hose down again.
Kicking some of the water her way, Ethan snorted as she moved back, the water jet lifting to hit him in the face. Cupping his hands to protect his genitals, he let her continue to blast away until he couldn't smell the chemicals anymore.
"So, Urgot," Jinx said from her place at one of the hideout windows. "Never heard of him."
"I'm not surprised, from what Chross said, he was thrown into the Dredge before Silco took over. I'll tell you more, just let me get inside. Having to repeat this over and over is getting kinda silly."
Putting on some spare pants, Ethan threw his towel aside and walked into the hideout, seeing Taylor being far more careful with her hair, a towel wrapped around her head.
Jinx just followed him with her eyes, turning around in the circular window when he entered the hideout, lying back and letting her braids fall down along the wall.
"Alright," Ethan said, drawing everyone's attention. "I don't know a lot about Urgot. He was not that popular when I played, but I did read his page once, and I know what he looks like."
"Is he dangerous?" Pyrrha asked.
"Probably not for you," he said, thinking of all the metal that made up Urgot's body. "But I think he could be dangerous enough against anyone else. Supposedly, he was a Noxian headsman who became politically inconvenient; he was tricked into coming into Zaun and betrayed to the Chem-Barons to stay out of someone's way.
"As a Noxian, he already put a lot of importance on strength, but the Dredge made him even more extreme, and in the lore, he became a terrorist, using physical violence and poison gas in surprisingly devious ways to test people, thinking only the truly strong would survive."
"If he joined with Takeda, I can see how he could be dangerous," Taylor said, finishing her hair and leaning back. "But you think he'd be a physical threat, too?"
"Are you sure?" Maelle asked. "Besides that soldier, when we were fleeing Piltover, I don't think we've seen anyone capable of even depleting our Aura."
"Possibly?" Ethan said, trying to think about the man. "In the game, Urgot was more war machine than man; he walked on six mechanical legs capable of crushing metal, had weapons installed inside them, and, while his upper body looked human, he had an industrial shredder inside his chest. He also used a heavy cannon in one arm and was kept alive by Chemtech."
He didn't know how that would translate to the real Zaun, but Urgot was a war machine; fighting him would be closer to facing a mech than a human, and Ethan didn't know how he'd hold up against a shot from a chemtech cannon.
He'd probably survive if he got hit, but it should at least hurt.
He expected that, having just escaped from prison, the Noxian wouldn't have his full capabilities yet, but a small part of Ethan kinda hoped he was strong enough to put up a fight.
Facing someone in an actual fight had been… interesting the first time he'd done it, but normal people were no longer any threat to him even before aura, and sparing just wasn't the same.
"Yeah… if he's using shimmer, he can definitely hit hard enough for you guys to notice," Jinx said, twirling one braid with a finger. "I've seen some of those guys, and even kids could dent metal when pumped full of the stuff."
Considering the use of shimmer had also given Jinx increased speed and reflexes, maybe Urgot would actually be a worse threat here than in the lore, the bald man being even stronger and faster.
Which, in theory, was a bad thing… Ethan just didn't feel that way.
Alright, maybe aura wasn't helping all that much with blocking whatever mental influence had infected him; he had never been this much of an adrenaline junkie before.
"Are you alright?" Maelle asked.
"I'm fine," Ethan shook his head. "Just… considering things. I thought that with our power, it would be pretty easy to take over, but this is turning out to be much harder than I expected."
"It WAS pretty easy to take over," Jinx said. "Bet we could do it to Piltover too if we really wanted to."
"Keeping things working is always so much harder," Taylor nodded, speaking from experience.
Pyrrha crumbled a piece of paper and threw it at the blue-haired girl on the window. "No taking over Piltover."
"Hey!" Jinx yelled, then jumped down the second-floor window to fall lightly on her feet. "Fine, but it would make fixing Zaun easier."
"Sure, until we're forced to deal with politics," Ethan snorted. "Both for the city and internationally. Zaun is already bad enough, and I can just punch someone if they're being an idiot, I don't want to even think of taking over Piltover until we've got better minions."
Maelle just lifted an eyebrow at that, and Pyrrha sighed, looking around for another paper she could throw at him, but he dodged away from her with a smile.
"I wish Lisa had come with me," Taylor said. "She liked this kind of thing."
"See," Jinx pointed at the black-haired girl. "She wants to take over too."
"I…" Taylor started to say, then actually stopped to think about the accusation. "The thought of leaving people who allow something like the sump to exist, and are willing to cut off our food supply, in power leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
Ethan nodded in agreement. It would be one thing if Zaun was independent, but that wasn't the case. Piltover owned the undercity, Zaun wasn't a nation, it was a hole Piltover threw everything it didn't want and forgot about it.
"We're not overthrowing a legitimate government," Pyrrha said, but it lacked her usual conviction.
Jinx nodded as if in agreement, then lifted Isha into her lap and pretended to whisper. "We're totally overthrowing the Pilties."
"Well, not everyone up there is an assshole," Ethan said, thinking of Arcane's version of Jaice, Caitlin, and Mel; they had their flaws, but weren't lost causes. "If we deal with the worst of the lot, then drag their faces in the sump a little, I bet we can get some of them to deal with politics for us."
Ethan finally noticed Maelle had stayed out of the conversation and gave her a look. The redhead seemed to resist an urge to flinch, her eyes conveying uncertainty.
"I'm… not really comfortable with controlling the undercity, it's why I le-"
Taylor snapped to attention, her face turning sideways as she concentrated on something outside the hideout, in the ceiling. Her spiders turned as one, rushing towards a window.
"What?" Pyrrha asked.
"My swarm was keeping watch on someone walking closer. I tried to have a gnat land on him, but he seemed to notice something wrong." Taylor's eyes went wide, and she started rushing towards the door. "He just destroyed a lot of my swarm at once."
"Where?" Pyrrha asked, grabbing the enhanced glaive out of the wall.
Taylor stopped, looking towards the huntress. "I'll guide you."
As Pyrrha ran out of the door, Ethan looked at Maelle with an unasked question. Neither Taylor nor Jinx were physical fighters, and Isha needed someone to protect her.
The redhead just nodded. "Go, I'll stay and keep guard."
His own glaive wasn't at hand, so Ethan drew out some of his blood and formed a sword as he ran after Phyrrha, noticing some of Taylor's fliers forming a trail he could follow. Drawing on his reserves, he felt power surge through his muscles as he increased his speed.
He found them soon after; the intruder was a large, older human man, almost six and a half feet, with pale skin and red eyes like an addict, but there were no signs of shimmer use.
His body was more fat than muscle, but there was still strength there, and he seemed to stare at Phyrrha with a curious look, not making much of an effort to flee.
More importantly, the second Ethan saw him, he got a strange feeling, a sense of wrongness he couldn't quite understand.
"Stop!" Pyrrha yelled, her glaive held sideways, blade pointed towards the ground. "What are you doing here?"
The man's eyes went to the weapon with a hint of recognition, a mocking smile seeming to come into his face, then he pulled a large machete from his waist and attacked.
Pyrrha was faster, striking at his arm with the blunt end of her weapon, the blow faster than he could react.
The man dropped his machete, and Ethan swore his improved senses heard bones breaking, but the spy didn't say a thing, just braced himself and managed to catch the shaft of the weapon, pulling a chemtech pistol and shooting Pyrrha in the head.
The redhead dodged, bending down and delivering a sideways kick towards his chest, sending the large man tumbling through the floor as the glaive was ripped from his grasp.
The blow had been hard enough to cripple any human, but the man just picked himself up, eyes seeming to grow redder, veins spreading all over the white to encroach upon his iris.
"Just destroy his weapons," Ethan said.
Pyrrha spared him a glance, then both the machete and gun were crushed by her magnetic force. "Force of habit, I'm too used to hiding my semblance. He's… not normal."
Ethan nodded. The first hit with her weapon was controlled, meant to avoid crippling a normal human, but she hadn't held back quite as much with the kick; he shouldn't have been able to get up no worse for wear.
The fat man considered Pyrrha for a moment, then his eyes saw Ethan's sword and widened, his smile growing as he shifted his focus entirely.
"Interesting," he opened his mouth, but the voice that came out was young and female. "I had just decided to check on one of her operations and had no plan to interfere, but this is far more interesting."
"Who are you?" Pyrrha asked, hands gripping her glaive harder.
Ethan stretched his senses, and that only made the man stand out more. Then he realised what was making him feel so wrong, the man's heart wasn't beating, they were talking to a corpse.
There was also the distinct smell of burnt flesh coming from the man, more specifically, the arm he'd used to block Pyrrha's glaive.
"Oh, I'm just a tourist looking around, my dear," Said the puppet master through the man's corpse as it rose to a standing position. "Horrible place you have here, by the way, I was just leaving, but this may have changed my mind."
As he listened, Ethan felt a small gnat landing on his exposed arm, then a few more, after which he felt them walking, forming letters. Had he been normal, he was sure it wouldn't work, but his increased senses let him follow the words.
"Beyond range, delay."
He gave a small nod, hoping Taylor understood, then brushed the mosquitoes away with a hand. "Did you kill the man?"
"Indeed, some fool who tried to ask for more than what he was owed. If he mattered at all, I'd have let him live, but he's worth far more as a tool than a person."
Pyrrha's hand tightened further on her weapon, and a dangerous glint came over her eyes, but she held herself back, the runes wrapped around the glaive starting to glow.
The puppetmaster immediately noticed and frowned. "Oh, please, don't tell me you care," she said, voice heavy with disdain. "He should be grateful I'm even using him, but I tire of this."
Ethan felt a hint of danger as the man started to lift an arm, and Pyrrha probably sensed it too as she attacked, her glaive flashing in an arc and cutting off the limb.
Blood didn't spray from the wound; it oozed in three thick ropes, then they moved, flashing like whips towards the redhead.
Pyrrha slashed the whips with her weapon, Kaenic Rookern glowing faintly as it broke the spell keeping the blood solid, the ropes splashing all over the floor.
With a flick of the corpse's arm, the drops moved again, turning into needles that smashed against Pyrrha's aura with enough strength to force her back a few steps.
Ethan moved, reinforced legs almost shooting him at the corpse, his sword cutting at its legs. Before the blow connected, he felt resistance, something trying to wrestle control of his weapon away from him.
With a growl, he beat back his enemy's magic, but it had delayed him enough that the man jumped back, arm swinging towards him to spray razor-sharp blood droplets with the force of a handgun.
Twisting aside, he felt them pass right over his shoulder, then he reversed the blow, sword cutting into the man's fat belly, but stopping well short of the middle point, a layer of hardened blood blocking the strike.
Behind him, the amputated limb swelled to twice its size, pale skin growing purple as the blood seemed to multiply dangerously inside.
Pulling the sword back, Ethan noticed some of the man's blood still sticking to his weapon, the liquid trying to flow over his construct and mix with his own blood.
Twisting her glaive, Pyrrha sent the hand flying to the side, then continued the movement to deliver a rising strike at the dead man, her glaive severing an arm at the shoulder, then descending on the other side to do the same, Kaenic Rookern glowing with power and dispelling any magical resistance.
Twenty feet in the air, the hand exploded with the force of a bomb, hardened blood and bone fragments shooting in all directions with enough force to pierce metal.
Narrowing his eyes, Ethan tried to take control of the foreign blood over his weapon, but it was hard, much harder than with his own, and the clash against a foreign will wasn't helping.
"Well done!" The corpse mocked, letting blood flow freely from his amputated limbs, the substance moving independently from his body to strike from unexpected angles, Pyrrha's aura taking a significant blow for the first time since she came to this world.
Tentacles of blood formed from the wounds, almost seven feet long. They were thin, but moved with enough strength and speed to keep even Pyrrha away. Her glaive was able to break them, ruining the magic, but there were enough that it would take a while to overcome.
Then one of the tentacles whipped at her legs, forcing her to jump while another two wrapped around the swelling, amputated arms, throwing them at the huntress just as they were about to explode.
Ethan's rage grew, the mocking, aristocratic tone digging at his nerves, and he wrestled control of the foreign blood on his weapon, paying for the effort by letting one of the corpse's blood whips hit his chest. Aura absorbed all of the damage, but he still felt the impact.
Sliding a few inches back, he adjusted his grip and prepared to attack, but the corpse had pressed its advantage, whips moving towards him from every direction.
His sword moved with precision, months of training inside the canvas giving him unusual skill as he cut and parried the blood, his will clashing against the puppetmaster every time he made contact.
Controlling the blood on his arm, Ethan let it form into a gauntlet, then he rushed the undead, using the hardened armor to endure a few blows as he delivered a devastating slash at the creature's neck.
With Zombies, it was always good to aim for the head.
This time, his blade cut right through skin, flesh, and bone, the man's head starting to fly off into the air when blood shot out of the holes like strings, reeling in the decapitated head back into place.
Ethan jumped back, avoiding a punch from the man, and adjusted his stance, but the man was already rushing him, body swelling, muscles gaining a purple color as they inflated.
Acting on instinct, his sword shifted, the newly absorbed blood letting it stretch into a hunting spear, which he stuck at the corpse's chest, the crossbar keeping it from coming any closer.
At the same time, blood leaked from his pores, covering the front of his body and hardening into armor to resist the incoming explosion.
Swollen hand grabbing at his spear shaft, the corpse gave him one last mocking bow, the woman's voice coming from the deformed head. "Until we meet again, darling."
From the back, Pyrrha's glaive pierced the puppet's heart, Kaenic Rookern flashing with light and ruining the corpse's explosion, the body seeming to deflate as power left its muscles.
Flicking his spear, Ethan threw the flaccid corpse aside and saw that Pyrrha was fine, having used the metal on her own clothes to pull herself away from the explosion.
Looking back at the corpse, he waited a few seconds as Pyrrha walked to his side, but the will he felt through the blood was no longer there.
"That was fun," he said with heavy sarcasm. "You think Taylor managed to find her?"
Pulling her glaive out of the corpse, Pyrrha shook her head. "I don't think she was anywhere close."
"Yeah, me neither."
Well, Ethan knew there were people in Runeterra capable of proving a challenge; he just didn't expect to find one so soon… if the voice wasn't female, he'd have thought this was Vlad. The blood shards certainly reminded him of the ancient vampire; did he have any apprentices?
PYRRHA NIKOS
Pyrrha flicked the blood off her glaive and watched as Ethan grimaced, then drove the tip of his spear beside the puppet corpse with a sigh. "What's wrong?"
"She tried to take over the blood on my weapon. I won, but I'm not willing to risk absorbing it back into my body."
She nodded. He was being overly cautious, but with his natural healing and aura, losing that much blood would barely affect him; there was no reason not to be careful.
Taking another look around, she made sure there was nobody else watching them, using her huntress training to look at every possible hiding spot, but there was nothing.
Looking back at the corpse, she felt slightly queasy; Pyrrha wasn't going to throw up, hadn't done that even on the first time she executed a criminal, but 'killing' someone still left a bad taste in her mouth; she hadn't done it enough to become routine.
Well, not that she had killed this man, and fighting him had felt more like fighting a grimm geist, but it certainly looked like it.
Pyrrha adjusted the position of her glaive, the perfectly balanced weapon reminding her of the spear she died with; the runes on the shaft having proved their worth against the undead, together, it gave her a sense of security.
Ever since she was… transported? Resurrected? She wasn't even sure what happened, but ever since then, she'd been feeling a little out of it, in more ways than one.
Before, her body had already been well developed, her demanding exercise routine keeping it in good form, but whatever had brought her here had taken that to a whole new level.
She was just… better, her muscles were denser, her metabolism more effective, and she had even grown a centimeter, nothing that magical, but the absolute peak she had aimed for when exercising.
And, well, she wasn't complaining, but it threw off a lot of her training; it was like going through a second puberty, with her body not feeling quite right, the sudden growth affecting her sense of self.
That also hadn't been the full extent of the changes.
In the first days since coming here, she'd suffered from insomnia, and when she slept, she'd wake up sweating or with her heart beating too fast. Being awake was no better; she'd face mood and appetite swings at unusual times, and even her reactions were a little strange.
Back then, she'd thought it was just… surviving… or reviving. Pyrrha was sure she had died; a few nights without sleep were a small price to pay. Even having her first time with the others had been… understandable, the euphoria of being alive getting to her.
That may have been part of the problem, but now, after some time had passed, she was sure it wasn't everything. No, her hormones were just off, her internal clock had gone haywire, and she was… hornier than normal.
She'd never considered anything but monogamy before, but now… well, everyone was very attractive, and she did want to have fun, to experiment for once in her life.
Perhaps that second puberty analogy was closer to the truth than she first guessed, only condensed in a few minutes instead of over years.
Releasing a long, suffering breath, Ethan stretched his arms. "Alright, I guess I'll deal with this. You can go back if you want."
Grabbing the handle of the blood spear, he shifted it into a shovel and lifted the tool over his shoulder.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, his body isn't really recognizable anymore, so I'll just bury him, no need to stay," Pyrrha looked around again, but Ethan just shook his head. "We're not that far away from the hideout, so Taylor can keep watch with her swarm and warn me if anyone else approaches."
At his words, a swarm of insects gathered in view, taking the shape of a ball, it buzzed. "I can."
That was an impressive level of control; even now, Pyrrha couldn't help admiring the older girl's ability. She knew the Shard partially managed it, but the skill still required a lot of training.
Pyrrha had tried to do something similar with needles, controlling them independently, and had some success, but Taylor was at another level.
"Any luck finding the mage?" Ethan asked.
"No," the swarm buzzed in answer. "I tried leaving the hideout to search, but she was nowhere in range. I'm coming back now."
"A pity all of this happened today," Phyrrha finally said, adjusting a lock of hair back into place. "I was going to take Isha out on a walk later."
Turning around, she let Ethan get to work; she'd do something nice to thank him later… then she tried to think of what and started to blush, damn her hormones.
Taylor caught up with her only a few feet from the door, the curly-haired woman taking well to her aura, the power of her soul stronger than even Jaune's had been.
"Where were you planning to take her?" Taylor asked as she opened the door.
"Just the lanes, she said there's a food stall she loves over there. It uses ingredients from Zaun, so it should still be active."
Well, the little girl hadn't 'said' anything, but she was surprisingly good at pantomime, and Pyrrha had started teaching her letters about a week ago, Maelle having drawn some cards which were quite good at passing information.
Taylor lifted an eyebrow at that, and even Pyrrha wasn't sure ingredients from the undercity would be a good idea, but anyone she asked said it was safe.
"Any luck?" Jinx asked them as they entered, a huge, shark-like rocket launcher over her shoulder.
Pyrrha just looked at the huge alpha-grimm weapon and shook her head. Where did she even keep the thing? She dreaded to think what would have happened if Nora had come here instead of her; the two of them would probably blow the two cities in a month.
"No, the mage wasn't anywhere near."
"Shit, really?" Jinx said, carelessly dropping the weapon on a table. "I know magic is real, but it was always just stories…" Then she seemed to realize something and threw herself on a chair, turning to Pyrrha with disappointment. "I guess we're not going out then?"
"No, sorry. With Urgot and this new mage, I don't want to risk it."
"Fine," Jinx pouted, then patted the rocket launcher with fondness. "I've been meaning to work on fishbones anyway, your mechashift tech gave me some ideas."
Resting the glaive against a wall, Pyrrha stretched her neck. She had dodged most of the explosions, and they hadn't been able to break her aura anyway, but the shockwaves still affected her.
Her adrenaline response also seemed to have been reset by whatever brought her here; so fighting the mage had felt like the first time she faced a close explosion, the crash when it was over starting to hit her.
Then she looked at the others… Were they more or less affected than her? She'd noticed Taylor having trouble sleeping, and she'd seen Maelle sweating in the middle of the day despite being in the cold.
Were they handling it better than her? Her competitive streak almost made her frown, but Pyrrha was aware enough to push it back.
Only Ethan didn't seem that affected, but that may be a result of his blood magic, and not really remembering his death.
"Want to come with me then?" Maelle asked. "I was planning to try and find a contact with the Firelights soon. If you're free, we can go together."
"I can!" Jinx lifted a hand. "I know all about finding the Firelights."
"Yeah… no, you're definitely not coming," Maelle shook her head.
Pyrrha shook her head as Jinx deflated again. She hadn't spoken with as many people as Maelle, but even she knew the Firelights hated Jinx with a passion. Then she turned to the smaller redhead. "Yes, I can go with you."
After having to deal with so many selfish criminals, she was looking forward to meeting the people who fought against the Chem-Barons before they arrived, the only ones actually trying to make things better.
A/N: If you like this story, you can read one chapter ahead on my P.A.T.R.E.O.N.
Also, think about reading one of my other works or giving me a tip if you have some spare change by supporting me on patr eon.com/CapCaverna or ko -fi.com/capcaverna